Chicken pesto paninis
Crisp, golden pressed sandwiches with chicken, melty mozzarella, basil pesto and sweet roasted peppers, made in a skillet with no panini press.
- 20 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 2
- About $3.92 a serving
- 710 calories
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 4 slices sourdough bread
- 2 tbsp basil pesto
- 4 oz fresh mozzarella, sliced
- 1½ cups rotisserie chicken, shredded
- ¼ cup roasted red peppers, sliced
- ½ cup baby spinach
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Each serving has about 710 calories, 47 g protein, 48 g carbs and 36 g fat, and costs about $3.92 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No sourdough bread? French bread works.
- No baby spinach? Kale or arugula works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Spread pesto over one side of each slice of bread.
On 2 slices, layer half the mozzarella, the chicken, peppers, spinach and the rest of the mozzarella, then close with the other slices, pesto side in.
Dolly’s tip: Cheese on both sides of the filling works like glue and holds the sandwich together.Food safety: Rotisserie chicken, deli meat, canned tuna and cooked shrimp are already cooked. Keep them cold until you use them, and heat them until steaming hot if the recipe warms them.
Brush the outsides of the sandwiches with the oil.
Heat a large over medium.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium heat
Add the sandwiches and press them down with a heavy pan.
Medium heat
Dolly’s tip: Any heavy pan works as a press. A pot with a few cans in it works too.Cook 3 to 4 minutes, until and .
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
Flip, press again and cook 3 minutes more, until the cheese has all the way through.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min
Cut in half and eat hot.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
